Memphis. It's a place where music isn't just played; it's created. From that legacy comes Saliva. On the quintet's 12-song Island debut, Every Six Seconds, Saliva bring the sturm und drang of hard rock together with hip-hop, grunge and sheer, unbridled mayhem, while still preserving the spirit and soulful intensity of its forebears. Every Six Seconds, the name chosen by frontman Josey Scott because "life cycles seem to happen every six seconds," is the sound of tradition beginning a new cycle and forging on into the 21st century.

“We were all after the same thing -- I can say that,” says Scott, a fourth-generation musician who, like most of the members of Saliva, had established himself through years of service in the Memphis music scene before forming the band. “We were after something really undeniable, sort of heavy and melodic. We were all in these bands that were not getting our rocks off stylistically; we really wanted to build great songs.”

“I think the main...